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Never did anybody look so sad. Bitter and black, halfway down, in the darkness, in the shaft which ran from the sunlight to the depths, perhaps a tear formed; a tear fell; the waves swayed this way and that, received it, and were at rest. Never did anybody look so sad.
Virginia Woolf
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects profound sadness and despair experienced by an individual, symbolizing the struggle between light and darkness.

Virginia Woolf's quote evokes a deep sense of sorrow, capturing the essence of a person's emotional state as they navigate through moments of despair and the complexities of life's challenges. The imagery of sadness contrasting with the sunlight symbolizes the duality of hope and despair, illustrating how one can feel lost yet still be surrounded by beauty, as represented by the waves receiving the tear and returning to calmness.

Themes

SadnessEmotionsDarknessLifeSorrow

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about overcoming adversity, I could use this quote to illustrate the depth of human emotion.

More from Virginia Woolf

I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
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Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”)
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He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
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I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
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I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
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London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
Virginia WoolfRead

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